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「かくれんぼ戦争」 (Kakurenbo Sensō)
“A War of Hide and Seek”
Fubuki is no ordinary teen, or leader, for that matter. He thinks logically, cunningly, cool-headedly. The children too are no small fry. The frozen water trap using the dammed up water was clever indeed (I’m not sure if it was the children who came up with it or if it was entirely Fubuki’s doing and they just carried out the plan).
Fubuki also acts as sensei to Tokiyuki in a private training sess. Much as Tokiyuki loves the thrill of running away, it bothers him that he can’t attack like the others do. As the master of swords and tactics, Fubuki happens to have a suitable offensive move for Tokiyuki- the Demon Heart Buddha Blade. Now, just what that is, we don’t know yet, other than that it involves compassion.
“We’ll be fine so long as they’re ordinary soldiers”- yeah, saying that is pretty much jinxing yourself there. What they’re up against when it comes to the heart of the enemy force, are no average soldiers. Just some maniacs with a bad case of greed and blood thirst. We (and the kids) get a lesson on the mechanics of fighting against armor. Basically- it’s hard, like sparring with a tank.
One way to get a good measure of a person is how they react when cornered or under pressure. When Tokiyuki’s cornered, he plays it like a game of tag, gleefully running away. For Shokan, it doesn’t register with him that he’s in trouble. Rather, he gets giddy mentally turning his opponent into piles of coin. It would be a massive understatement to say that he’s an utterly rotten guy, getting his kicks out of destroying children’s lives. Completely devoid of human feeling and empathy, he’s a demon that needs dispelling, and the sooner the better. How fitting, then, that Tokiyuki take on that duty in a room with the Buddha.
There was some noticeable CGI, particularly when it came to Shokan, but there were also some nice visual moments (though not nearly as nice or abundant as earlier episodes). Take, for example, the scene in the storehouse with the shadows and the golden rays of the Bodhisattva lining up with Tokiyuki.
I think more than the actual art (though that too), the focus of this ep was on the positioning of props and key players. There were a lot of well directed shots of reflections of candles or opponents in the eye, or take the shot zeroed in on Tokiyuki and Fubuki holding the sword hand over hand. Overall, I’d say it made an impression on me. Reflections and shadows- a symbol of the sneaky work the Suwa group is trying to accomplish to win. Attack from the shadows or illusions rather than head on in broad daylight, metaphorically speaking.
Fubuki’s statement that “kindness is ideal for killing a person” seems utterly contradictory at first. But it makes sense. Take the kindness out of the equation and you end up with a demon like Shokan. Having kindness and killing is a battle all on its own, as we see with Tokiyuki and his struggle with taking the offensive. If you have a tender heart, it’s going to be that much harder to kill- you may not even be able to kill, hence the stronger fleeing and defense tactics. That’s how it should be, though- it shouldn’t be easy to kill.
End Card
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